Pakistan captain Babar Azam says that the team tends to relax whenever they come up against a seemingly weaker opponent and conceded that the mindset may have played a role in their shocking defeat to USA in a T20 World Cup clash on Thursday.
After the match ended in a tie, the winner was decided by the Super Over and USA recorded a famous five-run win in one of the biggest upsets in world cup history.
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This isn’t the first time that Pakistan have ended up losing a match against a minnow. At the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, they ended up losing to Zimbabwe en route to runners-up finish and recently were stunned by Ireland during a bilateral assignment.
“For any tournament, you always come with the best preparation. You can say it’s a kind of mindset. When you come up against a team like this, you relax a little. You take things a little lightly,” Babar told reporters when asked the reason behind Pakistan losing to unfancied opponents.
“If you don’t execute your plan against any team, then whatever team it is, they will beat you. So, I believe that we are not up to the mark in executing. We are doing well in preparation but in the match, we are not executing our plans as a team,” he added.
USA bowlers did well to get rid of Pakistan top-order cheaply in slightly helpful conditions at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. The 2009 world champions lost Mohammad Rizwan (9), Usman Khan (3) and Fakhar Zaman (11) inside the first five overs itself.
Babar and Shadab then combined for a 72-run stand for the fourth wicket to arrest the slide.
“The first six overs, the ball was holding and was swinging. But the more partnerships we built, it would’ve been better for us. When Shadab and I started the partnership, we got the momentum. I think when we lost the wickets back-to-back, that was the turning point. When you got momentum, you lost it because of losing wickets. It was difficult in the beginning, but we covered it. But as a professional, you have to step up against such a performance or such a team in the batting, in the middle order. This is not an excuse that they played well. I think we played badly,” Babar said.
From 98/3 at one stage, Pakistan slipped again to 139/7 before eventually finishing with a decent 159/7.
“In the first six overs it (pitch) was helpful for fast bowlers. But later on, I didn’t feel it was a different wicket. I was a little settled down. Because the early matches starting at 10:30 am, the fast bowlers will get a little help. There is a little juice in the early morning. So, they utilised that. They executed their plan,” Babar said.
Babar top-scored for Pakistan with 44 off 43 while Shadab made a quick 25-ball 40. He felt that the total was good enough on a pitch like this and for an attack like theirs.
“Even in the second innings I think we got help, but the we were not up to the mark. We missed that in the first 10 overs. After that, we came back. But when you make a comeback in the last over, the momentum had already been taken it away. But as a bowling, the best bowlers should be able to defend such total. I think the total we put up was a good one for this pitch as per our bowling,” he said.
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